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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30032766">25 Cent Giraffes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/deciding/pseuds/deciding'>deciding</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Idiots in Love, M/M, Other, Willex mentioned, possibly past Lalex too if you really squint</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:20:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>9,321</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30032766</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/deciding/pseuds/deciding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Luke went to reach for the blue rabbit’s foot dangling from one of his jean chains but Julie caught his sleeve. If there was a moment for them to be caught up in, she wanted them both to be fully present in it, to approach it like they did when they sang with each other, raw and vulnerable. No kid gloves. No safety nets.</i>
</p><p>--<br/>It’s no coincidence that tiny giraffe figurines show up in Julie’s pocket when she keeps losing her lip balm.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Mercer &amp; Julie Molina &amp; Luke Patterson &amp; Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>25 Cent Giraffes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After they played <em>“Stand Tall”</em> at The Orpheum, after they didn’t cross over, after Julie found them in the garage, after they broke free of Caleb’s spell, things were different. For the Phantoms, the motivation for fulfilling their unfinished business and crossing over had been so the jolts didn’t destroy them. Since they’d refused to be part of Caleb’s house band for eternity, crossing over had seemed like the only solution at the time. But free from the stamps, and with more time, they’d put the business of unfinished business to the side.</p><p>They decided they’d think about it. Alex was the type to overthink and over assess, so he welcomed the prospect of doing more research for them to figure out what their unfinished business was and whether crossing over was what he wanted. Luke had only wanted to cross over to avoid Caleb’s control, not willing to sacrifice his soul. Music was Luke’s driving force and staying meant the beat went on. Reggie was undecided about the whole thing because he didn’t want to exist in <em>any</em> dimension without his best friends, so he went along with waiting.</p><p>Waiting meant staying, and staying meant they could still be in the band with Julie. But it wasn’t just about the band, it was friendship—no, more than that—<em>family</em>. They could interact with Julie in a way they couldn’t before. They were phantoms to everyone but her. They were corporeal to her, <em>tangible</em>. They could feel her, and she could feel them.</p><p>All of them took advantage of this. Band circles, activities in which Julie could only hover before, featured her hand sandwiched somewhere between two others. Group hugs featured her in the middle, after they ran up to her excitedly in a chorus of <em>“Julie!” </em>and all of them talking over each other before they settled in for band practice.</p><p>They each had their own newly bonded thing with Julie. For Alex, it was Julie painting his nails all black and using nail art pens to doodle little white ghosts. Reggie liked it when Julie maneuvered little braids into his hair and stuck little butterfly clips at the ends to hold them in place. Luke’s bonded thing with Julie was what they’d always done together—songwriting—but he began to sit so close to her their knees and shoulders bumped, so the curls of Julie’s thick hair tickled his cheeks.</p><p>When Luke hugged Julie and squeezed her hand, it was always for a few seconds too long. And well, Luke was Luke. Touch was his love language. Julie knew it was, because he’d always been all over Reggie and Alex, giving them hugs and fist bumps and high fives and friendly smacks to the shoulder. It was no wonder, because the three of them were bonded eternally; together when they died, when Alex cried for 25 years, and when they crash landed in Julie’s mom’s studio (their studio). Alex and Reggie were Luke’s best friends, his family. But now Julie was part of his family, too, and she got to experience the way he expressed love for those he cared about.</p><p>Sunday Movie Night in the garage became the new collective band activity. The projector Julie “used” to bring her “hologram” bandmates to life in front of a crowd was not a prop on the weekends. Julie connected her phone to it and they pinned up the white sheet that used to cover the piano so they could all enjoy a movie together. Julie let the boys borrow her laptop anytime she wasn’t using it, so she’d seen them watching the small screen together before, Luke sprawled out horizontally on the couch, feet in Alex’s lap and head rested on Reggie’s shoulder.</p><p>Sprawled out Luke adjusted with Julie able to sit on the couch with them without anyone phasing through. On Sundays, Julie found herself cradling Luke’s head, absentmindedly playing with the wispy ends of his hair, his ear pressed to her chest so he could listen to her heartbeat. She was the first (and so far only) person alive the phantoms could interact with, and it’d been so long since Luke could hear and feel someone’s heartbeat, the music inside of someone else.</p><p>All of them were still figuring out the extent of the boys’ existence in the dimension of the living. They could still poof everywhere and phase through everyone that wasn’t Julie. Although Julie was the only one who could interact with them, it was like they’d jammed the system of the space-time continuum because they started needing things of the world.</p><p>Julie took over laundry duty entirely in the Molina household, so Ray and Carlos wouldn’t notice the pastel pink hoodie or the red flannel or the sleeveless band tees, or the endless mix of jeans and tube socks. And if the boys’ clothes needed laundering, so too did their tangible forms. When they showered in the bathroom in the garage (Reggie was especially happy about this), the water didn’t run straight through them anymore. As to not raise suspicion with Ray and Carlos about where the Old Spice kept disappearing to, Julie gave the boys her own body wash and shampoo bar from Lush, and they all smelled like her.</p><p>The Molina property was basically a phantom hotspot. There, they could interact with everything. They could pick stuff up and use it as long as it was already there, or if Julie brought it to them. They’d always known they were connected to Julie, but the new developments gave further emphasis to the fact. Food and sleep might be out of the question still, but little trinkets for fun and self-care could be enjoyed. Sure, they could concentrate and get things for themselves at the grocery store or mall if they really wanted to, but they’d never been advocates for theft (the way Bobby stole their legacy still cut deep).</p><p>The new break in the lifer dimension made Julie feel a little scatterbrained. It was a lot to keep track of what she’d given the guys, what she could sneak into Ray’s cart at the grocery store to pass off as her own, and what she needed to drop by Walgreens for to buy herself. She didn’t mind spending some of her allowance on them though. Julie loved helping the guys out with what they needed, because they’d helped her and brought music back into her life.</p><p>But it made Julie feel more like her dad—who always lost his keys—which she’d never expected. Sometimes she had to stop and think if she’d misplaced something or given it to one of the guys. Basically, she lost a lot of things. Among those things were scrunchies and lip balm. Those were the kinds of things that always mysteriously disappeared, long before the boys had ever shown up, and Julie was pretty sure she’d never used up an entire tube of lip balm before it went missing. But losing a tube after only a week of owning it—that seemed a little too soon.</p><p>Julie had begun to lose things so much she didn’t even know if losing her lip balm was because one of the guys had taken it, or due to her own negligence of actually losing it. She didn’t want to accuse any of them either, because they’d become really good at respecting her boundaries and staying out of her room, and if any of them asked she would have given them a new stick of lip balm, one she hadn’t already used. But then again, they were still ghosts, it wasn’t like germs meant much to a group of dead dudes. Beyond that, none of the guys even had chapped lips.</p><p>Alex had his own fanny pack of supplies: tissues and his inhaler and an EpiPen. Reggie had naturally rosy cheeks but perfect skin. And Luke…well, Julie saw him up close when they were writing songs together or sharing a mic on stage, and when he was in her lap listening to her heartbeat, smiling up at her instead of paying attention to whatever movie they were watching. As far as Julie could tell, his lips were perfectly normal, if not entirely kissable.</p><p>And that was the thing, if Julie could touch Luke now, then she could kiss him. Flynn was right, she had a crush on Luke, and she was pretty sure Luke had a crush on her too based on the way he hugged her for too long and looked into her eyes and sat too close. Julie had a big imagination and had dreamed up scenarios for their first kiss in her head several times over. If she wasn’t reading the signals wrong, if it didn’t matter that he was only halfway in the lifer dimension, if they <em>did</em> end up kissing, Julie wanted to be prepared. She didn’t want to have chapped lips when Luke leaned down and tucked her hair behind her ear and cupped her face and laid one on her.</p><p>Julie needed to have lip balm on her at all times, that much was obvious.</p><p>“Guys,” she called into the garage after the first missing lip balm incident, “anyone out here?”</p><p>All of the lights were on but the place looked empty. Julie sighed, making a mental note to make another nagging remark about the guys poofing out for hours at a time without any regard for power consumption (Ray did still have to pay the utilities, even ghost usage), until she heard soft singing coming from the direction of the bathroom. Julie strode in that direction and as she got closer, she recognized Reggie’s voice. He’d left the door to the bathroom wide open and his voice carried over the sound of the shower’s water spray as he sang “<em>Home is Where My Horse Is”</em>.</p><p>Julie knocked twice on the open door. “Hey, Reg.”</p><p>Reggie’s country croon turned into a panicked yelp, followed by the sound of the Lush bottle hitting the shower floor. Reggie cleared his throat. “Hi, Julie.”</p><p>“Sorry,” Julie apologized. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”</p><p>“S’okay,” Reggie said weakly. “Not like we’ve never done it to you.”</p><p>Reggie exhaled. He was grateful the bathroom in the studio had heavily frosted glass doors. He’d been using the bottle of body wash as a microphone while he’d been singing his favorite country composition. But Julie didn’t have to know that.</p><p>“I can’t find my lip balm,” Julie went on, “I was wondering if maybe I’d left it out here?”</p><p>“Did you check the piano?”</p><p>“That’s the first place I looked,” Julie answered.</p><p>She’d done a quick scan of the garage when she entered. Usually if she forgot to bring something back inside the house after band practice or movie night, it wound its way on top of the piano or coffee table. The piano was bare when she’d come in and the only thing on top of the coffee table was Luke’s capo.</p><p>“But did you check inside the piano bench?” Reggie wondered.</p><p>Julie scowled. “Why—how—if I’d lost it out here, how could it have fallen into the <em>closed</em> piano bench?”</p><p>“Uh…I…I don’t know,” Reggie said too plainly to be lying about taking her precious lip balm hostage. Julie wouldn’t have suspected him anyway, but he was the only one around to ask for the time being. “I’m just trying to be helpful.”</p><p>Julie crossed her arms over her chest even though Reggie couldn’t see her. “It’s okay. Never mind.”</p><p>“Hey, Julie?” Reggie called before Julie could step away.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“If you really need lip balm, you should wait for Alex to get back. I think he has some in his fanny pack for ‘just in case’ situations,” Reggie said.</p><p>If Alex was anything like her (and Julie knew Alex was way more anxious about obsessing over small details than her), if he thought about Willie like she thought about Luke, that was enough to warrant a ‘just in case’ situation. It also meant if Alex had backup ChapStick, then it was at least as old as the length of time the three boys had been dead.</p><p>“You know what, I think I’m good. Not a big deal,” Julie responded. “Thanks anyway, Reggie.”</p><p>“Okay,” Reggie yelled back. “Later, Julie!”</p><p>Julie left Reggie to his suds—she knew how much he loved to shower (and the occasional bath). Before making her way back toward the garage doors, she stopped short in front of the piano, eyeing the smooth cherry wood. Curious as to why Reggie would tell her to check the piano bench, she walked around to the other side where the bench was and lifted the seat to access the inside storage compartment.</p><p>Last she remembered, Julie and her mom had only ever used the bench to store old exercise books and a mini metronome. Those things were still there, but Julie put her hand over her heart at what was on top. As she’d predicted, there was no sign of lip balm, but instead a tidy stack of loose leaves of paper covered in Reggie’s neat scrawl. Based on the titles<em>—“Fairview and Makers”</em> and <em>“Tack Shop”</em> among them—they all looked to be makings of country songs.</p><p>After going along with Luke and Alex’s decision to not make a decision about their unfinished business, Reggie had found purpose, to keep working on his country songs. If they were really going to break through the space-time continuum, not just halfway, he wanted his legacy at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction for Julie and the Phantoms to be about their country album (his compositions being the backbone) that did surprisingly well.</p><p>As Julie walked back up the pathway to the house, she made a mental note to get Reggie a music journal and make him his own dream box.</p><p> </p><p>-----</p><p> </p><p>The reason Julie could no longer chalk up her missing lip balm to misplacement was because it happened again, to an almost new tube, and because of what she found in its place. Instead of lip balm in the right pocket of her jacket, she found a tiny giraffe figurine, the kind you’d find in those gumball machines with little toy capsules instead of Dubble Bubble.</p><p>Julie noticed it when she reached into her pocket to make sure she had her wallet, on one of her trips to Walgreens to stock up on tampons and supplies for the guys. Julie asked Alex to tag along, knowing he wouldn’t be weird or flustered about her “girl stuff” and because he wanted to make a friendship bracelet for Willie. Michael’s would be their next stop, for the craft gemstones Julie would need for Reggie’s dream box and the embroidery thread for Willie’s bracelet.</p><p>Julie’s hand closed around the giraffe in her jacket pocket as she saw Alex scanning the wide array of gel pens in the stationary aisle. She had to find out what he knew and if he was in any way involved in the vanishing act of her lip balms.</p><p>“I don’t recall this many different <em>types</em> of gel pen when I was in high school,” Alex spoke to Julie as she walked up to stand beside him. “I thought gel ink was just…gel.”</p><p>“Wait ‘til we get to Michael’s,” Julie shook her head, taking her hand out of her pocket and shifting the shopping basket from one hand to the other. “There’s an entire aisle dedicated to thread.”</p><p>“I’m gonna trust you to make the right choice for me,” Alex said, voice moving into a higher octave. “Too many options are…well, you know how too many options are for me. Difficult.”</p><p>“What kind of bracelet are you making, exactly?” Julie asked with a grin. “Like, are we talking a hey-thanks-for-being-my-afterlife-buddy bracelet? Or more of a I-have-major-heart-eyes-for-you bracelet?”</p><p>Alex bowed his head and cleared his throat. He had the hint of a smile and his cheeks were tinged the same shade of pink as his favorite hoodie when he answered, “Both, but more of the second one.”</p><p>Julie wanted to giggle and squeal her excitement for Alex out loud. But she was already carrying on a conversation with him without her phone pressed to one of her ears. She was already taking a risk, speaking to him freely out in the open because it was a quiet afternoon at Walgreens. Julie knew better than to freak out the cashier at the front of the store. She’d put her AirPods in before she went up to the front to pay.</p><p>She squeezed Alex’s forearm instead of squealing, cooing at her friend. “Aw, Alex. You made a connection. I’m so happy for you. I wish I could meet Willie.”</p><p>The guys’ ability to interact with other ghosts was exactly why they’d suffered Caleb’s jolts, because they’d met Willie, who brought them to see him, when they wanted revenge on Bobby. Ultimately, meeting Willie meant the boys had to make their own choices about being in a band with Julie and being destroyed or playing in Caleb’s house band for eternity. And they chose to remain as the Phantoms even after Caleb forced their hands. They’d been willing to be destroyed by jolts, acting on principle, and because of it they—Julie included—broke Caleb’s curse. It meant the band was back. It meant they really were all the family they’d ever need.</p><p>But the guys could connect with other ghosts while Julie was only connected to them, in the same way she was the only lifer they could interact with. Apparently Willie had been right in front of her one day, out by the basketball hoop, but she couldn’t see or hear him.</p><p>“Oh, my connection with Willie? It’s um, yeah, we’re getting there. Connecting.” Alex knew he was rambling so he stopped talking and nudged Julie in the shoulder. “We may both be ghosts but it’s not quite like you and Luke.”</p><p>Julie didn’t want to compare herself and Luke to Alex and Willie, and she hoped Alex didn’t think whatever he had with Willie was somehow less. Frankly, Julie didn’t even know what there was exactly between her and Luke. She didn’t know how to define it. Her mouth felt dry and the rhythm of her heartbeat picked up. “What is that supposed to mean?”</p><p>“Funny,” Alex smirked, “that’s the exact same thing Luke said the first time Reggie brought it up.”</p><p>“Wait, <em>Reggie</em>?” Julie balked. “You and Reggie think…”</p><p>“That you and Luke would like to make I-have-major-heart-eyes-for-you bracelets for each other?” Alex finished for her. He’d caught on to using emoji descriptions as everyday speech much quicker than Luke and Reggie. “Yes.”</p><p>Silence lingered between them as Julie’s eyes widened and her face heated up. She knew Alex was pleased with the redirect, the conversation steering away from how flustered talking about Willie made him.</p><p>“No,” Julie groaned and held up a fully adorned wrist and shook it when she recovered. “I have enough bracelets.”</p><p>“Mmmhmm, sure,” Alex clicked his tongue knowingly. “You’re blushing, by the way.”</p><p>“Luke is my friend. My bandmate,” Julie insisted. “Same as you and Reggie.”</p><p>Alex grimaced. “I don’t want to kiss Reggie.”</p><p>“What!” Julie said a little too loudly. “Who said anything about kissing?”</p><p>Alex snickered and pulled Julie down the aisle, stopping in front of the end cap where Pringles (on sale, two for $3) were stacked neatly. It was further out of earshot from the college-age cashier at the front of the store. Alex would have let Julie lead, but leading her by the wrist was probably less suspicious than her showing up on the store’s CCTV footage pushing at air.</p><p>He smiled at Julie, ignoring the chips in front of them. “So you do, then? You like Luke?”</p><p>Julie’s cheeks were still burning when she spun on her heel and walked into the next aisle to survey the options for tampons.</p><p>“Okay, yes, I do,” Julie huffed at Alex, who was hot on her heels. “But keep that information to yourself, please. It doesn’t matter anyway.”</p><p>“Of course it matters, Julie,” Alex said with a frown. “Your feelings matter.”</p><p>“I appreciate you saying that, Alex.” Julie sighed. “I just think…okay, say hypothetically Luke likes me back. Then, then what? It’s not smart to act on how I feel when I don’t know how or when your guys’ ghost business wraps up and you cross over, if you’re going to cross over. Flynn told me not to get hurt and she’s right. I’m the only one who can protect myself from getting hurt.”</p><p>Alex considered his next words carefully before vocalizing them. His overthinking would keep him from becoming the best lyricist in the band, and he was okay with that, but his overthinking mind made him the best at saying the right thing at the right time.</p><p>“You and Luke are so much more on the same wavelength than you think,” Alex offered. “He’s scared because, well, he’s Luke. But you’re as scared as he is.”</p><p>“I’m not—”</p><p>“You’re scared,” Alex reaffirmed with a shrug. “And it’s okay that you are. It’s okay to take a leap of faith, too. I know Flynn is your bestie and she means well and she only wants what’s best for you. And she’s <em>very cool</em>. But I also know you should trust yourself, Julie. Last time you did, you saved three ghosts who were on the brink of not existing anywhere anymore. That’s pretty cool, too.”</p><p>Julie smiled fondly at Alex’s pep talk. It wasn’t very peppy, but it was also no wonder he was the voice of reason among the three phantoms. Alex’s words didn’t fall on deaf ears to Julie and he’d done it in a way no one else currently in her life would have.</p><p>“Wow,” Julie said.</p><p>“Oh no, did I sound too much like your therapist?” Alex cringed at his spiel. He meant every word of it but he didn’t mean to sound overly clinical.</p><p>“Not at all,” Julie shook her head and shot Alex a genuine gapped-tooth smile. “Actually, you kinda sounded like my mom.”</p><p>Rose Molina definitely would have told Julie to believe in herself, to trust in herself, and to go after what she wanted.</p><p>Alex squeezed Julie’s shoulder, holding back his emotions, blue eyes glassy. “Julie, I’m honored.”</p><p>Flynn had been the one to encourage Julie to help the guys fulfill their unfinished business so they could cross over, to let them go. Flynn hadn’t been wrong—when they all thought playing The Orpheum was their unfinished business it made sense to help them reach eternal bliss, much like they’d brought music back into Julie’s life. But when The Orpheum hadn’t been their final destination in the lifers’ dimension, when Julie watched them thrash in pain because of the jolts, she’d relied on her instincts, begging them to join Caleb’s club to save themselves. It was those same instincts, her raw honesty, that made her say <em>I love you guys</em> before unknowingly forcing a crack into the dimension and holding Luke, before Luke started glowing.</p><p>So, yeah, Flynn was her soul sister, who had her back, who didn’t want to see her hurt over cute air. Flynn was right about some things, but not everything, and that was okay. Some growing pains were meant to be worked through and felt.</p><p>With a nod, the tears almost forming behind her own eyes, Julie swiped a box of her usual brand of tampons off the shelf and dumped it into her basket. “Thanks, Alex.”</p><p>Julie shifted the basket to the crook of her arm and shoved her hands back into her jacket pockets as she began trekking down the aisle. When she felt the sharp ears of the giraffe figurine, she turned back around to face Alex.</p><p><em>Oh</em>, Julie thought. She’d meant to subtly bring up the case of her disappearing lip balm to Alex, since he did carry a fanny pack and the quarter machines with gumballs and cheap toys encased in ornament-like plastic balls were at the front of the store near the exit.</p><p>From Willie’s friendship bracelet to thread colors to kissing Luke to advice her mom would give—they’d gotten so far off topic.</p><p>Well, maybe kissing Luke wasn’t too far off topic from what she had to ask Alex about. But Alex didn’t have to know that.</p><p>“Hey, do you have any lip balm?” Julie tried to keep her tone casual.</p><p>“Oh. That’s not—hmm—okay.” Alex went through a few starter words before his next coherent sentence, not expecting the transition in topic without preamble. “Hold on, let me see.”</p><p>He unzipped and rummaged through his fanny pack carefully with one hand. Julie stood on her tiptoes to see the essentials Alex had in his convenient bag but he was too tall and too far away.</p><p>When Alex stopped rummaging, his voice moved into a higher octave again. “Um, just preemptively warning you, this lip balm was a stocking stuffer from Christmas of 1994 and it’s…used. Only by me, and I have impeccable hygiene, but still old and used.”</p><p>Finally, Alex held up a green colored stick of lip balm that looked like any other. Julie thought green probably indicated it was some sort of mint flavor, whereas she preferred Vanilla Coconut. Then there was the fact that the label was frayed and peeling, like something that had been left and forgotten about for 25 years.</p><p>“Was Christmas 1994 also the last time you used it?” Julie wondered.</p><p>“I don’t really get dry lips. Not in this dimension and not when I was alive either.” Alex shrugged. “I just have it in case, um, it’s for…emergencies.”</p><p>Julie had an inkling Alex carried it around for the same reason she was trying to keep her lip balm stashed in her pocket and her lips hydrated. She didn’t want to call him out on it though, because those who lived in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.</p><p>“Right,” Julie said instead.</p><p>“Um, you sure you want this?” Alex asked skeptically.</p><p>“Oh, no, no,” Julie covered quickly, waving it off. “The reason I ask is because I keep losing mine, so I was gonna get some anyway while we’re here. I wanted to know you if guys still need that, or, if you need it now that we seem to have made a crack in this dimension.”</p><p>“Aw,” Alex shrugged sheepishly, readjusting his fanny pack across his chest, “that’s so thoughtful, Julie.”</p><p>Julie had heard all she needed to from him. It wasn’t Alex who took her lip balm. He wasn’t calculated; he wouldn’t take from her and try and pass his old lip balm off as the only one he had if he had a new one. That wasn’t his style.</p><p>It was a few days later when Julie reached into her pocket and felt a new giraffe in place of the lip balm she bought at Walgreens.</p><p> </p><p>-----</p><p> </p><p>Julie bounded into the studio, closing the heavy garage doors shut behind her with her free hand. The sound of mid-tempo finger picking on an acoustic guitar stopped.</p><p>“Hey, Jules.”</p><p>Luke was sitting in the upholstered wooden lounge chair with the rolling wheels attached to the feet, guitar perched in his lap. His song journal was open on top of the coffee table and he had a pick trapped between his teeth and lips. Julie’s overactive imagination made her think about what it would be like to have her bottom lip caught between both of Luke’s, and then she caught herself, a moment later, wondering if she was jealous of a <em>guitar pick</em>, of all things.</p><p>“Hi, Luke,” she said.</p><p>“What you got there, boss?” Luke asked, taking the pick out of his mouth and tucking it into his orange beanie where it was folded over, flashing Julie his megawatt smile that made her insides feel all fluttery.</p><p>Julie weaved around the band’s instruments to get to the piano and carefully set down the rectangular object she’d been holding on top of the cherry wood. “It’s for Reggie.”</p><p>Luke stood from his seat and leaned his guitar onto its stand before following Julie to the piano, standing beside her. Luke’s green eyes looked over the details; a caricature of Reggie grinning as a puppy licked his face, stickers of puppies and dahlias bordering the doodle, and an assortment of metallic gems—much like the studs on the belt Reggie liked to wear—neatly glued all along the edges of the box top to complete the design. The box was a glossy red but the knob that opened the lid was a similar antique bronze to the knob on a certain box in Julie’s room. “Is it—is it a dream box?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Julie said, running her fingers over the glossy paint. “You think he’ll like it?”</p><p>“Are you kidding? He’s gonna <em>love</em> it!” Luke said emphatically, bouncing on the balls of his feet.</p><p>His smile was so big it crinkled the corners of his eyes. He had the audacity to bite his lip and nod, and Julie felt her insides turn to goo.</p><p>“But, Jules,” Luke followed up, “just the one? Only Reggie gets a dream box?”</p><p>Julie didn’t bother to explain there was a new Moleskine journal inside, or that she’d tucked a note into the front cover explaining to Reggie it was so he had a safe space for all his country songs. She knew Reggie would tell both Luke and Alex all about it, and Julie could already practically hear the future complaints from Luke because she encouraged Reggie’s excitement over the banjo.</p><p>“Are you jealous?” Julie asked coyly.</p><p>She swore she saw Luke’s gaze flick down to her lips before he raised his arm and held his thumb and forefinger up about an inch from each other. “A little bit,” Luke admitted, adorable puppy dog expression taking over his face.</p><p>Julie laughed. “Do you think having your own dream box would have kept you out of mine?”</p><p>“Aw, <em>Julie</em>,” Luke whined. “Come on, that was one time! And we got a killer song out of it.”</p><p>When Julie shot Luke a sidelong glance, he held his hands up in surrender.</p><p>“I know, I know,” Luke said flatly, “boundaries.”</p><p>“<em>Boundaries</em>,” Julie echoed with a nod.</p><p>To Luke’s credit, he hadn’t been in Julie’s room or anywhere near her dream box uninvited since the first time. The guys had made a habit of phasing an arm part way through her door and knocking first. Really, it was Julie who’d been the last to overstep when she hand delivered <em>“Unsaid Emily’’</em> to Luke’s parents.</p><p>But if they were being honest, with the way everything was changing, it was hard to tell where the boundaries between Julie and Luke even were anymore. The lines kept overlapping.</p><p>“Anyway, Reggie and Alex aren’t here. We were watching people do acro yoga—I think that’s what it’s called—on the boardwalk in Venice. That shit is intense! Reggie mentioned something about poofing over to Pizzanista and standing outside to take in the smell before I left.” Luke stepped back from the piano and extended his arms out in the open space, grin resuming on his face. “You got me all to yourself, boss.”</p><p>Usually Julie would have grimaced and been snide at Luke’s attempt to be endearing. He had the cuteness factor and energy of a puppy; he didn’t have to try so hard. But Julie was taken aback by the presence of Luke’s baggy flannel overcoat when he shot his arms out. She’d noted he was wearing it when she walked into the studio, but it was the way he shot his arms out, like he was presenting himself, that made Julie zero in on it. Luke was not one to keep sleeves on, especially not when he was playing guitar.</p><p>“Does it feel cold in here to you?” Julie asked, gesturing at his flannel.</p><p>“Oh, I—I don’t know.” Luke shrugged. “I was in a rush to write down lyrics when I got here. I forgot to take it off. But…but if I forgot, maybe it’s because I was cold?”</p><p>It was a stretch, but <em>maybe</em>. Luke was always more comfortable sleeveless, and the guys were all about comfort in the garage since technically it was where they lived. There was a space heater in the studio, but really only for Julie. LA evenings were colder in the winter months, but the guys didn’t really feel temperature changes much—probably why Reggie could wear so much leather indoors, which made him comfortable—they kept on wearing jackets out of habit, not so much to feel protected from the elements.</p><p>At least that was how it had been. A week ago, Alex swore he felt a cold gust of wind when he went to the skatepark with Willie, his jean jacket doing nothing for him. A sick and twisted part of Julie that moonlighted as hope had her wondering if their bodies were able to feel the difference between hot and cold again, if it meant they were taking on more characteristics of the living, and if it meant they could be resurrected. Would they become real, and not just to her? Would they be able to take back control and have their own renaissance?</p><p>“Do you feel like you’re coming down with something?” Julie wondered.</p><p>Ghosts couldn’t get sick, at least not as far as any of them knew. But they’d considered one of them feeling sick (or feeling cold as if they were sick) could be an indicator of a major change for their presence in the lifers’ dimension.</p><p>“Oh…no? Well, no, I don’t think so.” Luke rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly and then took off his hat, balling it up and shoving it into the one of the pockets of his flannel. “D’you wanna check?”</p><p>Julie had been keeping a running tally of the changes the guys were experiencing. She’d tried to get a temperature read on all of them, if they all had the static lifeless temperature of ghosts, or if they were warming up toward homeostasis. Because how could their secret pile of laundry be so unending if they didn’t perspire, if none of them had a core body temperature?</p><p>(But, okay, maybe it was another excuse—for Julie and Luke both—to touch each other.)</p><p>Luke was smiling down at Julie when she stepped closer to him and brushed his unkempt brown locks away from his forehead, so she could press her hand there. Luke’s gaze was distracting, his transformative green eyes that looked almost silvery under the garage lights shining.</p><p>“Your hand feels warm,” Luke said softly.</p><p>The moment called for quiet. Julie felt it, too. They’d hugged earlier that morning, before she left for school, and as usual it lingered longer than the hugs Julie shared with Alex and Reggie. But with no one else around, it seemed like the simple gesture of Julie’s hand on Luke’s forehead should be savored. Even when they were alone together, the air was filled with chord progressions and lyrics put to melodies—it was never just <em>them</em>. So they stood, savoring the moment, and let it last longer than their routine hugs or quick squeezes of hands.</p><p>It was with regret Julie had to tell Luke his tangible form, the one only she could feel, didn’t feel warm to her. She sighed and answered back, “You don’t.”</p><p>Julie watched Luke’s eyes the whole time, saw the flash of guilt and sorrow and apology at her words.</p><p>“It’s okay, Jules,” he assured. “I’m not—” Luke stopped abruptly and corrected himself, “we’re not going anywhere.”</p><p>Julie felt <em>that</em>. A reminder. A promise. The guys weren’t working on figuring out their unfinished business. They still had time, whether it be to cross over or regain the privileges of being lifers. Julie and the Phantoms had their own (non-ghost related) unfinished business to work on.</p><p>It clicked with Julie when she moved her hand from Luke’s forehead and down to his cheek, what Alex meant when he brought up the connection between her and Luke, how maybe there was something extra that was just theirs. It was why Julie’s favorite moments on stage were when the two of them were all up in each other’s space, singing to each other, eyes never looking away until that part of the song was over. It was why she liked hearing Luke’s voice on their songs, hearing him match her or act as a counterpoint—the songs were always better when his voice could be heard under hers, when they pushed each other to be better. It was why Julie’s favorite parts to listen back to, from any of the rough cuts they’d recorded from the floor in the garage, were when they both sang together, because their voices fit so well together.</p><p>Julie didn’t have that connection with anyone but Luke. She felt tethered to him. It wasn’t just a crush. <em>An interesting little relationship</em>, he’d called it. And knowing that, Julie was pretty sure he felt it, too.</p><p>When Julie withdrew her hand from Luke’s face, they were still in close quarters. The fluttering feeling in her chest matched Luke’s eyelashes when he blinked rapidly. Their chests seemed to be much closer. Luke opened his mouth like he was going to say something but stopped when Julie tucked a loose curl of hair behind her ear. But when she took her leap of faith, leaning up onto her toes and leaning in toward Luke so their lips were inches apart, the melody crumbled.</p><p>Luke’s eyes widened and he took a big step back, turning to the side.</p><p><em>Oh</em>, Julie thought.</p><p>She’d daydreamed an entire song about Luke, where they’d danced together and sung words about being in perfect harmony. She’d seen him staring at her when he thought she didn’t notice. Alex had given weight to the idea that Julie and Luke were tethered. How could they have been so wrong? She’d believed in herself and trusted herself; how could <em>her mom’s</em> advice have been so wrong?</p><p>Julie quickly reminded herself they were family first—and Luke loved his found family—so that was a reasonable explanation for why they hugged so long and sat so close. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that even if Julie was smitten, Luke was just being Luke, living his love language.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, shit.</em>
</p><p>The way Julie visibly deflated was not lost on Luke. At her reaction, Luke looked like he’d been hit by one of Caleb’s jolts. But it’d been more than a month since the stamps had floated up and disintegrated off of the boys’ wrists.</p><p>Luke swallowed the growing lump in his throat—if it were possible for a ghost—and tried gently, “Julie…”</p><p>“I—I—” Julie stammered. “I gotta go.”</p><p>“Wait!”</p><p>“Just forget it,” Julie shook her head, turning on her heel. “Just forget this ever happened. Please.”</p><p>Julie was mortified. She was in over her head for a ghost, went to make the first move on a ghost, and her feelings weren’t even requited. What could she expect from a ghost whose emotional growth was stunted at age seventeen, anyway? It wasn’t Luke’s fault if he didn’t think anything more of her than just family. He was a <em>ghost</em>.</p><p>Luke poofed in front of the garage doors before Julie could escape her embarrassment. She huffed. He knew she hated when he did that. “<em>Luke</em>,” she said with a bite in her tone.</p><p>“Julie,” Luke tried again, “I’m sorry. I don’t want things to be weird between us.”</p><p>“You’re sorry?” Julie retorted, angrier at herself than at Luke. “It won’t be weird. You’ve made it clear there’s <em>nothing</em> between us.”</p><p>“What?” Luke asked, confused, eyebrows coming together in a frown. “I thought you were mad because—”</p><p>He cut himself off abruptly again and Julie demanded, “Because <em>what</em>?”</p><p>If Luke was going to prevent the big spectacle of Julie storming out of the garage, then she needed answers for clarity.</p><p>“I thought…I guess I thought we were going to ignore whatever there is between us and never talk about it,” Luke got out. “But sometimes I don’t want to ignore it. I got caught up in the moment before I caught myself. But then you…you couldn’t…you weren’t…I saw you…”</p><p>Julie spoke blubbering teenager—she was one herself sometimes—so she was able to decipher that Luke knew she’d been leaning in to kiss him. But Julie focused on the first part of what Luke said.</p><p>“What do you think there is between us?” she asked bluntly.</p><p>“C’mon, Jules,” Luke begged for an easy out, uncomfortable with the spot he was in. “Y—you know I’m not good at this stuff.”</p><p>“What, feelings?”</p><p>Luke shifted his weight between his feet and cringed. “Well, yeah.”</p><p>He went to reach for the blue rabbit’s foot dangling from one of his jean chains but Julie caught his sleeve. If there was a moment for them to be caught up in, she wanted them both to be fully present in it, to approach it like they did when they sang with each other, raw and vulnerable. No kid gloves. No safety nets.</p><p>“But you’ll try. For me.” Julie’s gaze moved up from his arm to his eyes. “Right?”</p><p>The day of the band’s performance at The Orpheum was one Julie thought about a lot. How Luke had flickered a few times before he appeared on stage. How the three ghost boys were almost jolted out of existence in every dimension. How they got to have a band circle, for real, after Julie somehow saved them. But mostly Julie remembered what Luke had said, before and after the gig.</p><p>
  <em>Anything, Julie. You know that.</em>
</p><p><em>No regrets</em>.</p><p>So maybe Julie was overstepping, foot sliding over the line, but she knew Luke had meant those words. She knew to expect the grimace on his face before the nod.</p><p>She knew to give him a second before the words tumbled out, disorganized and earnest. Luke was a great songwriter, but his eloquence fell short in real time.</p><p>(Truth be told, it was part of his charm.)</p><p>“I don’t have a crush on you. I mean—” Luke’s silvery green eyes widened in the same way they did when he realized how close their faces were. “I—I mean—I think it’s more than that. I get this feeling in my chest sometimes, and I don’t know how to describe it, but I <em>know</em> it’s about you. And I know that doesn’t make sense, because my heart isn’t beating, and maybe—maybe the feeling should be coming from my head? I don’t know. I just know how I feel.”</p><p>He hadn’t been wrong. Luke wasn’t good with feelings. But in his lack of eloquence, in his disastrous yet passionate explanation, somehow Luke managed to sum up perfectly how Julie felt as well. Julie wasn’t sure if she found it cute or annoying that <em>that</em> was what he’d kept bottled up.</p><p>“I feel the same way,” Julie admitted softly.</p><p>The corners of Luke’s mouth turned upward and the sparkle in his eyes began to shimmer. He looked so hopeful.</p><p>“Really?” Luke asked, still needing confirmation that what he felt was mirrored, that they were in sync.</p><p>Julie had already taken her leap, had already been shot down (and then <em>not</em>, with Luke’s chaotic confession), and though the landing had been rough, the ground held steady beneath her. So she didn’t mind coaxing Luke along.</p><p>“Really,” Julie nodded. “So what’s the problem?”</p><p>Luke’s face fell again, first into a pout, then to despair. He’d been so confident to tell her the phantoms weren’t going anywhere. But with the stakes raised—with feelings involved—he was subdued.</p><p>“I’m a ghost,” he stated the obvious. No teleportation skills or special afterlife powers could get around the proverbial elephant in the room.</p><p>“Things are changing for you every day,” Julie reminded him.</p><p>“We’re not trying to solve our unfinished business because we’re not trying to speed up the process of getting to the other side. We want to stick around. But can we manipulate the system any more than we already have and become part of this dimension permanently? Does that mean I’ll age, or do I stay seventeen forever?” Luke went on. “The questions are <em>endless</em>, Jules. And who knows if we’ll ever get answers. What if our unfinished business is related to how we’re moving forward with the band? What if we fix what’s broken and we don’t even realize it? What if…what if we don’t even get to say goodbye?”</p><p>Luke’s voice broke and went hoarse on the last sentence. He wiped his sleeve across his face and looked away. He was always so positive, so encouraging, uplifting her and Reggie and Alex through their insecurities. Luke had been understandably upset about Caleb’s curse, but the only other time Julie had seen Luke so emotionally distraught was when he went to see his parents.</p><p>“Luke,” Julie said his name, her brown eyes becoming tear rimmed. “Hey—”</p><p>“No, Julie, <em>listen</em>,” Luke insisted, the mix of his anger and sorrow allowing him to be bold, taking hold of Julie’s hands, “you can’t hurt me, not really, because I’m already dead. But the last thing—the <em>last</em> thing—I want to be is the reason you’re hurting.”</p><p>Luke’s points were valid. Julie understood he cared. He cared about <em>her</em>. He didn’t want to let her down, or hurt her, or leave a Luke-shaped hole in her heart if he could no longer stay, or if the lifers’ dimension decided to keep him but at a constant, while Julie had to get on with her life.</p><p>But it wasn’t his choice to make, at least not alone. And it wasn’t true Julie couldn’t hurt him. His ability to be hurt by his unmendable relationship with his parents, by Bobby stealing his life’s work, by Julie cutting him down with her words, by Caleb trying to take ownership of his soul—that was what made Luke all the more <em>real</em>. All the more alive. Luke had an indescribable feeling in his chest that was about Julie. Julie had the same feeling for him and she knew it emanated from her heart.</p><p>“Luke,” Julie squeezed one of Luke’s hands, “can I speak now?”</p><p>Luke sniffed and nodded meekly.</p><p>Julie took a deep breath, telling herself to be brave, to be direct but also make her approach in a way that would make most sense to Luke. “We write songs about taking risks, about going after what we believe in. And if we’re not going to live those truths, then what are we, a band of phonies?”</p><p>Although he stayed silent, Julie saw Luke’s jaw clench. Music was everything to him, and he’d lived that truth until the night he died. Sunset Curve had worked hard to make things happen, and Julie knew Luke had been their ringleader, had taken on the pressure of the grind so they had a fighting chance. It was what made his death so tragic, though few knew about it—Luke had paid his dues and had been on the verge. He’d made it to the edge of great on his own merit. Luke wasn’t a sellout or a phony or a poser.</p><p>Julie’s hands reached up to brush his cheeks with her fingertips, so neither of them could look away, so they couldn’t hide from their feelings anymore.</p><p>“It seems to me the risk of getting hurt is a better option than the alternative of never having the experience at all,” Julie said.</p><p>She saw an entire symphony of emotion flash through Luke’s eyes as a single tear fell from one of hers. And she knew she’d gotten through to him in the way that mattered most; she’d made the swelling of the music devastatingly beautiful, vibrating at the same frequency as his soul.</p><p>Luke closed the distance left between them then. He rested his forehead on Julie’s and cradled the back of her neck gently. It was hard to see the details of Luke’s face so up close, his features blurry, but Julie swore she saw him give a slight nod before his eyes fluttered close. This time, when Julie adjusted and tilted her head, Luke met her in the middle and didn’t hesitate when she pressed her lips against his to kiss him.</p><p>His lips were soft and he kissed her back in earnest. Luke let Julie lead, moving his hands to the small of her back when she adjusted her arms to encircle his neck, pursing his lips and letting them curl up into a smile, catching her bottom lip for a split-second right before she pulled away, so the kiss would linger. Luke nudged the tip of his nose against the bridge of Julie’s, and it made her scrunch her nose when her stomach flopped and the butterflies soared.</p><p>Luke was rocking back and forth on his feet after. His smile was bright, but more shy than usual, and his cheeks tinged rosier. A little dazed, Julie felt heat in her own cheeks when she asked, “Was that okay?”</p><p>Luke’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I…uh…you’re asking me?”</p><p>“It’s not 1995 anymore, Luke. This is the age of consent and boundaries,” Julie clarified. “I shouldn’t just kiss you because I feel like it, without permission. Have you been listening to anything I’ve said in the last month?”</p><p>Taking Luke’s 90s attitude about playing a spirit assembly at school without asking was one thing. Kissing someone was completely different.</p><p>“Jules,” Luke said softly, in such a way that sent a shiver down her spine, and then it duplicated when he looked into her eyes and ghosted his thumb over the fabric of her hoodie at her elbow.  “It was perfect.”</p><p>Of course he’d been listening to her. Of course he’d short-circuited at her question, because he was still reeling.</p><p>Julie drew her lips into a straight line to keep from giggling. A perfect kiss with a ghost. Her and her phantoms, they really had made a crack in the space-time continuum. It was like something out of a movie.</p><p>When Julie rubbed her lips together, she tasted the slight sweetness of her Vanilla Coconut lip balm. She was surprised because it’d been hours since she last put some on, and usually she wasn’t able to taste it after a few.</p><p>She slapped her hand over her mouth at the same time she gasped. <em>Oh</em>.</p><p>“Di—did I say something wrong?” Luke asked in a panic.</p><p>“It’s <em>you</em>,” Julie whisper-yelled.</p><p>“Me?” Luke didn’t follow. “I—<em>I’m</em> wrong?”</p><p>“Yes—no. No, I’m talking about—” Julie dug into the front pocket of her hoodie and produced the tiny plastic giraffes that had been left for her on separate occasions, “—<em>these</em>. Are you the one who’s been stealing my lip balm and leaving these for me?”</p><p>Luke’s eyes widened and then he fumbled for words, “I…uh…well…”</p><p>Julie was right, the lip balm she’d put on earlier in the day was long gone. The lip balm she tasted was from when she kissed Luke.</p><p>“Thief!” Julie screeched.</p><p>“That’s what the giraffes were for!” Luke answered in a rush. “They were supposed to be an IOU. I was gonna figure out a way to pay you back.”</p><p>Luke pulled up on the canvas wallet attached to the ends of the chains on his jeans and shook it around so the sound of coins jingling around against each other could be heard. “I didn’t want to steal anything from the store – I knew you’d disapprove. But I didn’t exactly have a lot of money on me the night I died, either. You know those little vending machines that take quarters and give you a toy? Turns out quarters really haven’t changed since the 90s, so I was able to get stuff out of them.”</p><p>With a guilty conscience, Luke reached into the inside pocket of his flannel and held out a handful of more miniature giraffes identical to the ones Julie already had. “I thought…I don’t know, I thought you’d put them on your desk or your windowsill or something, and on a day we’re hanging out in your room I could count them to know what I owe you.”</p><p>“You were planning to steal <em>more</em> lip balm?” Julie raised an eyebrow, noting there were three more giraffes in Luke’s palm.</p><p>“<em>No</em>.” Luke cringed. “But I kept losing them! How does lip balm always go missing so fast?”</p><p>Julie scoffed. “I was asking myself the same question.”</p><p>“I’m really sorry, Jules,” Luke apologized, puppy eyes out and ready to grovel. “I’m not—I don’t want to be a thief—you know how I feel about that kind of thing. And I know how you feel about us taking your stuff. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”</p><p>“You could have asked, you know,” Julie said. “I would have given you lip balm. And you don’t have to owe me anything.”</p><p>“I know but…” Luke’s face was full of guilt. “You do so much for me and the boys already.”</p><p>“All of you do a lot for me, too,” Julie reminded Luke. “Family, right?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Luke nodded. “Family.”</p><p>If they were both blushing, it was definitely because of what had transpired between them, because maybe they didn’t think of each other as just family anymore.</p><p>“What did you even need it for?” Julie wondered. “Your lips aren’t chapped.”</p><p>Her statement caused Luke to perk up, a bit of mischief in his expression. “You been looking at my lips enough to know that, Molina?”</p><p>“I mean—” Julie cursed herself internally. She wasn’t sure how the line of questioning got turned around on her. And she had just kissed him. He’d called it perfect. So what did it matter? “Maybe I have. Answer the question.”</p><p>Luke straightened up a little, amusement fading from his eyes.</p><p>“I was trying to keep my distance, which is hard because we’re always so close. And I like being near you—that’s why it was easy to make the swap. It was…it was a contingency,” he squinted, moving his hand to the back of neck to scratch at his hair, a classic nervous tick. “I figured I woulda fucked up the whole distance thing eventually. So I took the lip balm for, you know, <em>just in case</em>.”</p><p>Julie’s heart grew an entire size as she interpreted Luke’s words. It was hard for her to be mad or reprimanding when even his shortsighted, misguided ideas were in consideration of her. She’d never stood a chance of not taking the leap of faith on him. And they were on the same wavelength, like Alex had said, because they had exactly the same reason for wanting to keep lip balm readily available.</p><p>“Yeah,” Julie whispered before she lined up the miniature giraffes neatly on top of the piano and kissed Luke again, “just in case.”</p><p>They moved to the couch so Luke could share the song he’d been working on. Julie sat in the middle and Luke sprawled out as usual, feet dangling over the armrest, his head cradled in Julie’s lap and elevated in her arms, pressed against her chest so he could listen to her heartbeat. As Julie started reading the messy scrawl of Luke’s lyrics, Luke holding up the journal and smiling up at her, she decided the beating of her heart would have to be enough for the both of them. The feelings in their chests were hard to describe, but they were about each other, and they were real.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><a href="https://jerepars.tumblr.com/post/645625412195663872/25-cent-giraffes-extended-story-notes">Extended Story Notes</a> are on tumblr, where I’m <a href="https://jerepars.tumblr.com/">@jerepars</a>.</p><p>Thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts. Feedback is always appreciated. &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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